RahulPatel–twikies…

December 12, 2010

SBS 2008 DNS stops working for .uk, .eu and some other TLDs outside USA

Filed under: SBS 2008 — Rahul Patel @ 1:45 pm

In SBS 2008, when first installed or rebooted, DNS queries succeed, but after a period of about 1 day users report that they are unable to access some web sites. On inspection, it may be noticed that the inaccessible web sites are in the .uk and .eu Top Level Domains (TLDs) or certain other TLDs that are outside of the USA.

If left for several days, the problem may appear to resolve itself then re-occur after another day or so.

If the DNS server service is restarted, or the DNS cache on the server is cleared, then the problem is temporarily resolved but re-occurs after a day or so.

The cause of this problem is that in EU countries (and certain other TLDs outside the USA), nameserver records are typically cached for more than 1 day. SBS2008 has a cap on the maximum time that it will allow nameserver records to be cached, which defaults to 1 day. This default works fine in the USA but When the .uk and .eu records become stale, they are not deleted from the cache but are no longer returned as valid records. Therefore, they effectively prevent DNS lookups in those TLDs from succeeding until the records expire and are deleted from teh cache, or the DNS Server service is restarted.

The fix is to increase the maximum Time To Live (TTL) setting in the DNS server so that it recognises records older than 1 day. Experience has shown that setting the value to 4 days is usually enough, but the maximum setting is 30 days.

Solution

For a permanent work around, the MaxCacheTTL value needs to be changed to a value larger than the TLD TTL (Default value is 1 day, maximum value is 30 days). On SBS2008 there is no negative impact since this is the TTL for the cache of Resource Records. This is just the maximum value that it will be stored on DNS server. If the actual TTL is shorter, the shorter value will be used.

1. Start Registry Editor (Regedit.exe).
2. Locate the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\DNS\Parameters
3.On the Edit menu, click New, click DWORD (32-bit) Value , and then add the following value:

Value: MaxCacheTTL
Data Type: DWORD
Data value: 0x69780 (432000 in decimal = 5 days)

4.Click OK .
5. Quit Registry Editor.
6. Restart the DNS server.

Source:
http://serverfault.com
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;968372

April 18, 2010

Microsoft Fix it Center(currently in Beta)

Filed under: Server 2003,Server 2008,Windows 7,Windows Vista,Windows XP — Rahul Patel @ 9:50 am

Fix it Center finds and fixes many common PC and device problems automatically. It also helps prevent new problems by proactively checking for known issues and installing updates. Fix it Center helps to consolidate the many steps of diagnosing and repairing a problem into an automated tool that does the work for you…..

Microsoft Fix it Center Online

February 16, 2010

Windows NT Backup Restore Utility for Windows 7 and for Windows Server 2008 R2

Filed under: Server 2008,Windows 7 — Rahul Patel @ 9:18 am

Windows NT Backup Restore Utility for Windows 7 restores backups made on Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 to computers that are running Windows 7.

Download::http://support.microsoft.com/kb/974674

November 20, 2009

Create bootable USB drive for Hyper-V Server 2008 R2

Filed under: Hyper-V,Server 2008 — Rahul Patel @ 9:59 am

BootFromUSB is a simple application to automate the manual preparation process for booting Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 off of USB drives.

Description
A simple application to automate the preparation process for booting Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 off of USB drives.

The application automates the manual USB creation process detailed on the Microsoft website.

Requirements

* Copy the EXE locally
* You have the Windows AIK or Windows OPK installed.
* You are running as a local admin
* You have the INSTALL.WIM file for Hyper-v Server 2008 R2 available.
* You have .NET 3.5 or later installed.
BootFromUSB-screenshot.PNG

Directly using a prepped Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 VHD file (instead of from a WIM):

One additional feature of BootFromUSB is you can leave the WIM field (step3) blank and
select a “Blank” VHD that is actually a pre-configured sysprepped VHD and it will directly
copy the VHD to the USB drive.

This is a quick way to prep USB drives since it skips the long VHD creation and WIM
extraction processes.

NOTE: The operating system will display a “Format disk?” dialog box a number of times while preparing the USB drive. You should ignore and just close those dialogs.

Download : http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/BootHVSR2FromUSB/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=3549

October 21, 2009

Applications That Are Known to Work with RODCs

Filed under: Server 2008,Server Core — Rahul Patel @ 10:30 am

Overview of what applications are supported to run with a Read-Only Domain Controller (RODC) implementation.

1.Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) server
2.Microsoft Office Live Communications Server
3.Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS)
4.Microsoft Office Outlook
5.Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM)
6.Windows SharePoint Services
7.Microsoft SQL Server 2005
8.Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS)
9.Active Directory Rights Management Services (AD RMS)
10.Credential Roaming
11.Distributed File System (DFS)
12.Distributed File System Replication (DFSR) and File Replication Service (FRS)
13.Domain Name System (DNS)
14.Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)
15.Group Policy
16.Internet Authentication Service
17.Internet Information Services (IIS)
18.Network Access Protection (NAP)
19.Terminal Services (Users and Computers snap-in)
20.Terminal Services Licensing server

Note:Exchange isn’t on the list. In fact, you can’t run Exchange (2000, 2003, 2007) if there’s only a RODC it can connect to. Exchange needs a full-DC around to function correctly.
Reference:http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc732790(WS.10).aspx

October 20, 2009

Disk2vhd v1.0

Filed under: Hyper-V,Server 2008 — Rahul Patel @ 10:28 am

Sysinternals  offers a free P2V tool Called Disk2VHD that creates VHDs (Virtual Hard Disks) of physical disks for use in Microsoft Virtual PC and/or Hyper-V virtual machines (VMs).  You can run Disk2vhd on a system that’s online, since it uses Windows Volume Snapshot (VSS) capability, to create consistent point-in-time snapshots of the volumes you want to include.

To use VHDs produced by Disk2vhd, create a VM with the desired characteristics and add the VHDs to the VM configuration as IDE disk(s).
On first boot, a VM booting a captured copy of Windows will detect the VM’s hardware and automatically install drivers, if present in the image. If the required drivers are not present, install them via the Virtual PC or Hyper-V integration components.

You can also attach to VHDs using the Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 Disk Management or Diskpart utilities.

Download here

For more information: Sysinternals website

May 27, 2009

Service Pack 2 for Vista and Server 2008 finally arrives

Filed under: Server 2008,Windows Vista — Rahul Patel @ 3:14 pm

Microsoft has finally given the public Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 (final build is 6.0.6002.18005). You can download the installer from the Microsoft Download Center: 32-bit (348.3MB), 64-bit (577.4MB), and IA64 (450.4MB). There’s also an ISO image (1376.8MB) that contains these installers.

The installers will work on English, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish versions of either Vista or Server 2008. Other language versions will arrive later. Those interested in slipstreamed versions of Vista and Server 2008 with SP2 will need to get an MSDN or TechNet subscription.

32bit http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=a4dd31d5-f907-4406-9012-a5c3199ea2b3

64bit http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=656c9d4a-55ec-4972-a0d7-b1a6fedf51a7

ia64 http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=e890b3cf-972b-483f-a2ff-03f6aefac6f8

iso http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=9f073285-b6ef-4297-85ce-f4463d06d6cb

December 4, 2008

Windows Essential Business Server 2008 Standard now available for evaluation

Filed under: Server 2008 — Rahul Patel @ 11:47 am
Windows Essential Business Server 2008

Trial software has arrived.
As a beta participant for Windows Essential Business Server 2008, we invite you to load the new trial software for Windows Essential Business Server 2008 Standard. Now you can evaluate the finished product to simplify your IT environment and give you more control.

A whole new way to evaluate software.
To help make the software evaluation process as efficient as possible, downloading the software automatically registers you to receive relevant resources periodically throughout the 240-day evaluation process.

Resources delivered right when you need them.
You will receive resources that will guide you through a phased approach of discovery, assessment, and deployment of Windows Essential Business Server 2008. Get started now to take advantage of the wealth of resources.

Download here for the trial software or order the DVD software today.

December 3, 2008

Active Directory Backup and Restore in Windows Server 2008

Filed under: Server 2008 — Rahul Patel @ 12:56 pm

You all know that Active Directory Domain Services (ADDS) is a mission-critical component in your Windows infrastructure. If Active Directory goes down, your network is essentially useless. Consequently, your backup and recovery plans for Active…

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc462796.aspx

November 25, 2008

Windows Server 2008 Step-by-Step Guides

Filed under: Server 2008 — Rahul Patel @ 11:16 am

Creating_and_Deploying_Active_Directory_Rights_Management_Services_Templates_Step-by-Step_Guide.doc

158 KB
Deploying Active Directory Rights Management Services in a Multiple Forest Environment Step-by-Step Guide.doc 314 KB
Deploying Active Directory Rights Management Services in an Extranet Step-by-Step Guide.doc 209 KB
Deploying Active Directory Rights Management Services with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Step-By-Step Guide.doc 278 KB
Deploying an Active Directory Rights Management Services Licensing-only Cluster Step-by-Step Guide.doc 196 KB
Deploying SSTP Remote Access Step by Step Guide.doc 639 KB
Removing Active Directory Rights Management Services Step-by-Step Guide.doc 156 KB
Server Manager Scenarios Step-by-Step Guide.doc 225 KB
Server_Core_Installation_Option_of_Windows_Server_2008_Step-By-Step_Guide.doc 421 KB
Step_by_Step_Guide_to_Customizing_TS_Web_Access_by_Using_Windows_SharePoint_Services.doc 157 KB
Step-by-Step Guide for Configuring a Two-Node File Server Failover Cluster in Windows Server 2008.doc 341 KB
Step-by-Step Guide for Configuring a Two-Node Print Server Failover Cluster in Windows Server 2008.doc 335 KB
Step-by-Step Guide for File Server Resource Manager in Windows Server 2008.doc 386 KB
Step-by-Step Guide for Storage Manager for SANs in Windows Server 2008.doc 217 KB
Step-by-Step Guide to Deploying Policies for Windows Firewall with Advanced Security.doc 1012 KB
Step-by-Step_Guide_for_Configuring_Network_Load_Balancing_with_Terminal_Services_in_Windows_Server_2008.doc 159 KB
Step-by-Step_Guide_for_Windows_Deployment_Services_in_Windows_Server_2008.doc 309 KB
TS RemoteApp Step-by-Step Guide.doc 370 KB
Using Identity Federation with Active Directory Rights Management Services Step-by-Step Guide.doc 370 KB
Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Certificate Services Step-By-Step Guide.doc 247 KB
Windows Server 2008 Foundation Network Guide.doc 490 KB
Windows Server 2008 Network Policy Server (NPS) Operations Guide.doc 469 KB
Windows Server 2008 Step-by-Step Guide for DNS in Small Networks.doc 537 KB
Windows Server 2008 TS Gateway Server Step-By-Step Setup Guide.doc 667 KB
Windows Server 2008 TS Licensing Step-By-Step Guide.doc 323 KB
Windows_ Server_Active_Directory_Rights_Management_Services_Step-by-Step_Guide.doc 272 KB
Windows_Server_2008_TS_Session_Broker_Load_Balancing_Step-By-Step_Guide.doc

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=518d870c-fa3e-4f6a-97f5-acaf31de6dce&DisplayLang=en

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